Yet again, it's been a very long day so I'll try to be brief in my explanation of the activities so I can get my much needed rest. I'm not going to go into the logistics of all the information we received in the Peace Corps office in Phnom Penh today before heading out of the city (14 stations of surveys and policy signatures and safety information), but it all ended in Khmer snacks so all was well at the end of the sessions. What kind of Khmer snacks you may ask? Most Khmer snacks I've come across so far in the office as well in markets are fruits such as small bananas and dragonfruit, as well as "nom" which is a soft, geletin-textured dough that comes in many varieties such as with pumpkin chunks, wrapped around beef and rice, or with peanut sprinkles on the outside and coconut on the inside.
Ok, so keeping this blog in all honesty, part of what makes these days so exhausting are the blisters on my feet and the crazy humidity. We were on the buses for a few hours but had to drink water with our malaria pills, which led to the discomfort of having to pee and not having a place to do it for quite some time. When we were able to relieve ourselves, we used squat toilets at a cafe rest stop where we used a scoop of water from a bucket to flush the "toilet". And yes, mom, I am using hand sanitizer.
When all of us got back from the line for the bathrooms we were greeted by middle school aged girls who came up to us speaking English quite well and asking us to buy their fruit so they could pay to stay in their English classes. Two girls, Soom (pronounced So-um) and Menling, came up to me with bags of guava, bananas and pineapple, and....pause for dramatic effect...tarantulas crawling on them! I was visibly freaked out and Soom reassurred me that she had cut their fangs herself. "No bite", she told me, and she grabbed a spider off her chest to show me its underside as the remains of its fangs were tucked under its body. After some more encouragement she managed to put a live one in my hand, and then another one, and eventually convinced me to eat one of my new fuzzy friends' fried cousin. At the count of three, I gulped down a crunchy, and surprisingly sweet-seasoned leg with the two girls. In all the bustle, I ended up buying 3 bags of the fruits from the girls for just 3 U.S. dollars (not too bad an asking price considering their cause, but I bought my dinner tonight for just $2 to give you an idea of how much things cost).
Upon arriving to our site for the next few days, along the Mekong river, finally taking a welcomed break from our vagabond lifestyle of the past 5 days, we met all of our staff from the province that will be helping us learn Khmer throughout our training. I spent the remainder of the night with PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) Garrett, Angela and Trevor, and a LCF (Language and Cross-cultural Facilitator) Rath, pronounced "Rot", learning and practicing basic vocabulary. By the end of the night I was able to order my meal and ask for the check, as well as other useful phrases for greetings and in dealing with food (my favorite, of course). A funny moment occurred at the dinner table as both Garrett and Rath tried to teach each other the word "malaria" in their prospective languages, but both thought the other was teaching and they both ended up pronouncing the word slowly, with each syllable, over and over again before realizing they were both trying to be students in the situation.
Alright, bed time now, seriously. I would write a few Khmer phrases here but that might take a little to long. One phrase I learned tonight though sounds a lot like a phrase in English so I think anyone could learn it's actual pronounciation. "aw-som nigh man" sounds a lot like "awesome night, man" without the "t", but it actually means "really funny". Don't even get me started on how to pronounce rice, "bai", because that took each of us about 20 minutes and I still don't think we have it down yet.
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